A temporary resident visa is a paper document affixed to a passport that, when presented at an airline check-in, allow a foreign national to travel to Canada. It also must be presented at a port of entry and combined with an exemption by an immigration officer, to allow a foreign national to enter Canada for a certain purpose. From 2011 – 2020 the visitor visa approval rate for some of Canada’s top source countries of applications was as fol Temporary Resident Visa Approval Rate By Country Country 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Algeria 80 77 74 68 70 65 58 44 46 44 Bangladesh 64 70 65 46 48 53 53 53 55 63 China 85 88 90 89 88 89 89 88 87 87 Colombia 72 74 78 78 80 79 80 78 78 67 Egypt 55 61 69 73 70 68 57 62 57 57 Ghana 54 53 50 30 48 47 47 47 50 38 Haiti 60 50 45 44 43 42 37 37 29 39 India 79 77 78 78 77 74 67 56 53 62 Iran 67 58 68 68 73 69 74 68 46 52 Jamaica 59 64 67 … Read More
Supreme Court Clarifies Dangerous Driving Law
The Supreme Court of Canada in 2012 clarified the law regarding what constitutes dangerous driving under the Criminal Code. The decision, R v. Roy, has implications for people who may be inadmissible to Canada for criminality. Indeed, in Jolly v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), the Federal Court of Canada affirmed that it will be a reviewable error if visa officers do not assess criminal equivalency for dangerous driving based on the mens rea standard articulated in Roy. Section 249 of the Criminal Code provides that: 249. (1) Every one commits an offence who operates (a) a motor vehicle in a manner that is dangerous to the public, having regard to all the circumstances, including the nature, condition and use of the place at which the motor vehicle is being operated and the amount of traffic that at the time is or might reasonably be expected to be at that place; In R v. Roy, the Supreme Court noted that (emphasis added): It is, therefore, critically important to ensure that the fault requirement for dangerous driving has been established. Failing to do so unduly extends the reach of the criminal law and wrongly brands as criminals those who are not morally blameworthy. The distinction between a mere departure, which may support civil … Read More
2021 Election Results and Canadian Immigration
On September 20, 2021 Canada had its 44th Parliamentary election. The results leave the composition of Canada’s House of Commons essentially unchanged from before. As of September 21, 2021, the Liberal Party of Canada, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has again won a Minority Government with 32% of the vote and 158 seats, 12 short of the required 170 needed for a majority. This means that the Liberals do not have enough seats in the House of Commons to unilaterally pass legislation and must collaborate with the other parties. The Conservative Party of Canada won 34% of the vote and 119 seats. The Bloc Québécois won 8% of the vote and 34 seats. The New Democratic Party won 18% of the vote and 25 seats. The Green Party of Canada won 2% of the vote and 2 seats. The Liberals can pass immigration legislation as long as they have the support of either the Conservatives, the Bloc or the NDP. They do not have to commit to one party, and can pick and choose which party they get support from depending on the specific change they are proposing. It is accordingly worth understanding these parties’ immigration campaigns. The Liberal … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #60 – Where Canada’s Political Parties Stand on Immigration in 2021, with Chantal Desloges
A discussion of the 2021 immigration platforms of the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats, Greens, Bloc Quebecois and the People’s Party of Canada. Chantal Desloges is the Founder and Senior Partner of Desloges Law Group. Borderlines · #60 – Where Canada's Political Parties Stand on Immigration in 2021, with Chantal Desloges Heading – The Election and Canadian Immigration On September 20, 2021 Canada will have its 44th Parliamentary election. There are six main political parties running. The first is the Liberal Party of Canada, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Liberals are generally regarded as a centrist party and have governed since October 2015. The second is the Conservative Party of Canada, led by Erin O’Toole. The Conservatives are a centre-right party that previously governed Canada from 2006-2015 under Stephen Harper. The third is the New Democratic Party, a left-wing led by Jagmeet Singh. The fourth is the Green Party of Canada, led by Annamie Paul, a party that is typically known for its environmental platform. The fifth is the Bloc Québécois, led by Yves Francois Blanchet. The Bloc is a Quebec nationalist party that only runs candidates in Quebec. Finally, there is the People’s Party of Canada, a right-wing … Read More
Duress and Inadmissibility to Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada has “clarified” the elements of the duress defence. The defence is important because it can affect admissibility. For example, in Guerra Diaz v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2013 FC 88, the Federal Court of Court determined that the Immigration and Refugee Board improperly applied the test of whether duress applied, and ordered a new hearing by a different member. Duress and Inadmissibility It is basically trite law that where there is duress, then a person does not have the mens rea do either commit a crime or be a member in a group that renders the individual inadmissible to Canada. In Jalloh v. Canada (Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), 2012 FC 317, the Federal Court stated that: In my view, it is preferable to consider the evidence of membership along with the evidence of coercion in determining whether there are reasonable grounds to believe the person genuinely was a member of the group. One way of looking at this issue is to regard evidence of duress as defeating the mens rea of membership (Thiyagarajah v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2011 FC 339). Accordingly, evidence relating to duress must be considered along with the evidence relating to … Read More
Procedural Fairness at the Immigration Appeal Division
One of the leading cases on procedural fairness is Charkaoui v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2007 SCC 9. There, the Supreme Court of Canada stated: Last but not least, a fair hearing requires that the affected person be informed of the case against him or her, and be permitted to respond to that case. This right is well established in immigration law. The question is whether the procedures “provide an adequate opportunity for [an affected person] to state his case and know the case he has to meet” (Singh, at p. 213). Similarly, in Suresh, the Court held that a person facing deportation to torture under s. 53(1)(b) of the former Immigration Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-2, must “[n]ot only . . . be informed of the case to be met . . . [but] also be given an opportunity to challenge the information of the Minister where issues as to its validity arise” (para. 123). In Therrien v Canada (Attorney General), 2017 FCA 14, the Federal Court of Appeal stated that the the required specificity of the notice provided an affected person is to be determined in light of all of the circumstances including consideration of whether … Read More
Urgent Processing of PR Cards
On October 20, 2016, IRCC posted Operational Bulletin 627. It restricts what qualifies for “urgent processing” of PR Cards to: travel due to an applicant’s own serious illness or the serious illness or death of a family member; or to obtain employment or to travel due to employment requirements or opportunity. In Li v. Canada (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship),the Federal Court stated that mandamus cannto be used to compel IRCC to mail a PR Card rather than require that it be picked up in person.
H&C Third Country
Several Federal Court of Canada decisions affirm that a visa officer’s assessment of humanitarian & compassionate considerations will be unreasonable if the officer assesses hardship on the basis that a foreign national will reside in a country other than their country of citizenship. In Hermann v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2014 FC 266, Justice Zinn stated: I have very serious doubt that in making an H&C assessment an officer can assess hardship on the premise that the applicant relocate to a country other than his country of nationality, regardless of any mobility agreements between countries. If an applicant is in Canada without authorization and is to be removed, Canada cannot remove him to a country other than his country of nationality. Why then should Canada consider any other country when examining hardship to the applicant in a H&C application? In Abdullah v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2019 FC 954, Justice McAffie stated: This Court has held that assessing an H&C application with reference to a country where the applicant has no legal status is an error that renders a decision unreasonable. In Joe (Litigation guardian of) v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2009 FC 116 [Joe], the minor applicant was a … Read More
Yes, IRCC Can Deny PNP Nominees Permanent Resident Visas
The Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (“IRPR“) provide that an immigration officer may issue a negative substituted evaluation and refuse an application where the officer is not satisfied that a provincial nomination certificate is an appropriate indicator of whether an applicant will be able to successfully establish themselves economically in Canada. Subsections 87(3) and (4) of the Regulations state that: Substitution of evaluation (3) If the fact that the foreign national is named in a [provincial nomination certificate] is not a sufficient indicator of whether they may become economically established in Canada and an officer has consulted the government that issued the certificate, the officer may substitute for the criteria set out in subsection (2) their evaluation of the likelihood of the ability of the foreign national to become economically established in Canada. Concurrence (4) An evaluation made under subsection (3) requires the concurrence of a second officer. I have reproduced below an excerpt from the recently decided Federal Court decision Kousar v. Canada, 2014 FC 12, which illustrates this point. Because Kousar was a Federal Court case, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (“IRCC”) refusal reasons become part of the public record. Accordingly, while I was not the lawyer involved with either the initial … Read More
Environmental Overview – Chandigarh
Earlier this year I published a partial reproduction of the Environmental Overview of the immigration functions at the Canadian Consulate in Chandigargh current to 2012. The post was quite popular, and the following is a summary of the most recent Environmental Overview of the immigration functions at the Canadian Consulate in Chandigarh (the “Environmental Overview”). The Environmental Overview was prepared as part of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2014-2015 planning exercise, and is current as of January 2014. Areas in blockquote are direct passages from the Environmental Overview. Environment The Canadian Consulate in Chandigarh (“CIC Chandigarh“) provides temporary residence processing in northwest India. Chandigarh is a non-immigrant processing office. However in 2013 we processed some family class files in order to assist Delhi with their targets and to provide a learning experience for officers in Chandigarh. Over 400 family class applications were interviewed and processed to conclusion in 2013. SuperVisas continue to account for 15% of our total visitor intake. Systemic fraud necessitates a careful review of applications in all lines of business. Interestingly, CIC Chandigarh has been active in meeting with Punjab government officials to provide input on the new Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, a law which provides a registration system … Read More